A source who spoke to SaharaReporters stated that Joshua arrived at the cargo terminal and forcefully granted access to five vehicles belonging to the Nigeria Customs. The cargo terminal is a highly restricted area and only persons with permission and appropriate pass tag are allowed to enter.
Operations at the Hajj and Cargo Terminal of the Murtala Mohammed Airport was halted for three hours as officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) stormed the terminal and blocked all operations at the terminal.
It was alleged that the Customs officials led by an officer simply identified as Joshua yesterday, January 21, 2019, forcefully seized the key to the terminal claiming to be carrying out special operations.
A source who spoke to SaharaReporters stated that Joshua arrived at the cargo terminal and forcefully granted access to five vehicles belonging to the Nigeria Customs. The cargo terminal is a highly restricted area and only persons with permission and appropriate pass tag are allowed to enter.
“Around 4pm, Joshua got to the Cargo terminal and seized control of the gate. He opened the gate and allowed five Federal Operating Unit of the Customs to enter and locked the gate.
“All the Aviation Security were stunned when after padlocking the gate, Joshua held on to the key and went away for three hours. This led to confusion among the airport staff who are working within the terminal.”
A staff of the airport who witnessed the event stated that the Customs officers harassed the airport security personnel at the gate with guns and collected the key from him.
Narrating the incident, the airport staff said: “Joshua and his officers arrived at the gate, assaulted the FAAN officer manning the gate with their guns, pinned him to the ground and collected the keys to the gate from him. They came with three trucks, one armoured vehicle and one operational vehicle.”
It was gathered that the Assistant Commissioner of Police visited the area to restore peace but Joshua refused to release the key to the gate.
“The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Okezie CC reported during the incidence to restore peace between Aviation Security and the Customs officers. Joshua did not open the gate until they were done with whatever they were doing. He opened the padlock and left with the keys.”
The airport security personnel insisted that the matter would be properly tackled to prevent recurrence of such incident.
When contacted on the incident, Mr Umar Mohammed, Deputy Comptroller of Customs MMIA said that he has been out of the state and is yet to be brief on the incident. "I have been in Abuja since last week and I am just getting back to Lagos today. Nothing of that nature has been brought to my table."